Sound of silence cheers O’s

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

With tempers still smoldering in riot-torn Baltimore and nearby neighborhoods clearing out rubble and debris, the Orioles played a baseball game Wednesday.

This wasn’t for the fans, because there weren’t any at Camden Yards.

The game was held behind closed doors, and the Orioles and Chicago White Sox played because it was considered to be the best way to fill out the schedule for both teams.

The timing worked for baseball, not so much for Baltimore. It was an unusual move by Major League Baseball, which usually errs on the side of caution in the wake of tragedy.

Baseball games were canceled after riots ignited in Los Angeles and terrorists attacked New York and Washington. Baseball put off the World Series in 1989 after an earthquake hit San Francisco.

In Baltimore, after a drug store was set on fire about four miles from the ballpark and the National Guard was summoned to restore order, they played a game because this was the only planned visit by this season by the White Sox. The postponed games Monday and Tuesday were to be made up as part of a doubleheader on May 28, but there was seemingly nowhere to go on the schedule with Wednesday’s game.

So they moved up the starting time by five hours to 2:05 p.m. to beat the 10 o’clock curfew and had the teams go at it before 47,000 empty seats. Baltimore won 8-2.

“We have a schedule so we’ve got to get games in,” Chicago second baseman Gordon Beckham said. “We can’t just miss all three games and expect to make them up down the line. I mean we’ll have no off days for the rest of the year.

“So, we at least have to get this one in.”

Just about everyone who put on a uniform understood the circumstances. Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died of spinal cord and other injuries while in police custody. The protests that followed included looting, violence and rioting.

Though no property around the ballpark was damaged, the city was hurting and here they were, playing a baseball game to preserve the integrity of the schedule.

“It is strange. The commissioner of baseball made a decision,” said Gov. Larry Hogan. “I’m glad that we don’t have tens of thousands of fans down there. Even though things appear to be calm, having tens of thousands of people in that part of the city, that’s where our command center is operating.“

On a scale of what was significant to Baltimore on this day, the Orioles’ 20th game of the season wasn’t exactly at the top of the list.